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The Iron Lady
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The Iron Lady
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- 2011
- Phyllida Lloyd
- 104 mins
- 12A
Summary
Biographical drama starring Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent. An elderly Margaret Thatcher looks back on her life as she sorts through her late husband's possessions. She reflects on her turbulent political career and how she rose through the ranks of the Conservative Party to become Britain's first female prime minister.
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Review
A star rating of 2 out of 5.
Andrew Collins
While BBC4's The Long Walk to Finchley dramatised ten years in the young life of future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd here bravely tackles the whole thing, told in smash-and-grab flashbacks from Lady Thatcher's amnesiac dotage. Meryl Streep, with disarming conviction and entertaining panache, plays her at various stages of adult life, and is gregariously supported by Jim Broadbent as the ghost of her late husband Denis. This could, in the hands of talented screenwriter Abi Morgan (TV's The Hour), have been a fascinating chamber piece about love in old age. Instead, while dutifully ticking off the key historical events - the Falklands, the miners, the Brighton bombing, etc - the movie fails to find purchase on any broader motivation, beyond that of quasi-feminist megalomania. Beyond the fun of playing spot the MP (and spot the character actor), it lacks the focus of a comparable biopic such as The Queen. Without the Oscar-winning Streep, it's just high-quality biographical karaoke.
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6.4/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameMargaret ThatcherMeryl StreepDenis ThatcherJim BroadbentCarol ThatcherOlivia ColmanYoung Margaret ThatcherAlexandra RoachYoung DenisHarry LloydGeoffrey HoweAnthony HeadMichael HeseltineRichard E GrantGordon ReeceRoger AllamMichael FootMichael Pennington
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Crew
rolenameDirectorPhyllida Lloyd
Details
Theatrical distributor
Fox / Pathe
Released on
2012-01-06
Languages
English
Guidance
Some violence, brief nudity.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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